Tag: hospital

There are so many news articles and stories on the internet today that reflect the insanity of the global pandemic. What we at Unified Caring Association (UCA) have seen many beacons of hope, caring, and kindness shining through headlines each day. We decided to compile a few that highlights how business and people are banding together to help support the heroes who are on the frontlines.

One Starbucks manager’s heart went out to those in his local area, and had inspiration to bring joy and comfort to front line responders. The manager cares for his community, and found ample support in his decision. “Now more than ever, the world needs places to come together with compassion and love…We provide consistency to create a sense of certainty in an uncertain world.” The Starbucks team gathered and filled coffee travelers. Each coffee care package was completed with a personalized note conveying gratitude and encouragement. The manager then delivered these to police officers, City Hall, the fire department, etc. This action inspired Starbucks locations around the world to show their support in the same way. Cheers to all of these Starbucks partners! You all are examples of how a community cares for its heroes.

With the need for medical supplies, we have been seeing calls for help from those on the frontlines. We are excited to read that Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk announced that the automaker has ventilators. Additionally, Tesla will be using its logistic network to deliver them to hospitals for free. This is just in time, because several hospitals in the US are in need of ventilators to help save patients! Many of these patients are badly affected by the virus, and in need of that support. Tesla cares, thank you!

Dr. Sarosh Ashraf Janjua was pulled over for speeding, and was surprised to receive a facemask instead of the expected ticket. “He went back to his patrol car to look up my license, and when he returned, quite firmly told me it was very irresponsible of me to be speeding, especially since I would not only take up resources if I got into an accident, but would also not be in a position to help patients.” (Janjua) The doctor was let off with a warning. “As I sputtered to apologize and say thank you, he reached in to hand me what I assumed was my license back.” This officer, Brian J. Schwartz, cares for fellow frontline heroes as well as others in the community. To show this support he handed Dr Janjua five new N95 face masks from his personal state-supplied stash. “[He] shared his precious masks with me, without my even asking…The veil of civilization may be thin, but … we are going to be ok.”

An English lady set up a virtual pub to entertain local townspeople while they are practicing self-isolation to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the regular events are live music, quizzes, DJ sets, open mic, and comedy nights. The virtual pub had been a hit, and she now employs bar staffers to cope with her 14,500 online customers. She has a team of 10 “bar staffers.” This team works together to talk with customers; there are even “bouncers”, who act as moderators and allow people into the virtual pub. ““It’s really nice to be able to bring people together in these difficult times in the most British way possible. It is pretty much like going to a pub, but doing it from your living room or back garden.” (Bowtell) We love the idea of getting together virtually and sharing support in a fun and family friendly environment. And as always, “we’re encouraging people to drink responsibly though. We have coffee mornings as well.”

Like the Starbucks story above, many companies are helping support frontline heroes with free goodies. “Starbucks will be providing the free coffees to police officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and hospital employees until May 3rd.” Additionally, on National Doctors’ Day, Krispy Kreme is also offering boxes of donuts to health care workers each Monday. To help protect the frontline heroes feet, Crocs is also giving doctors, nurses, etc. free pairs of shoes through their online site. A fourth company mentioned in the Good News Network’s article is Tropical Smoothie. This smoothie drink eatery has locations giving away 100,000 smoothies to US healthcare workers. We agree with Tropical Smoothie’s comment that, “The 100K smoothie giveaway is a simple, but impactful example of one way we can show our gratitude and bring a smile to their face—one sip at a time.”

Often when we talk about frontline heroes we are talking about doctors, emergency responders, and teachers. There are many more people whose profession and jobs are necessary to support the community and put them on the frontline. The janitorial and sanitation workers have been tirelessly cleaning and sterilizing offices, homes, and facilities so that people can remain healthy. This particular article celebrates the janitors who are making sure school facilities are kept clean and sanitary during the COVID-19 outbreaks. We are moved to hear that appreciative parents have raised thousands of dollars for their district janitors. These parents and communities care for their school custodians who are going the extra mile with each cleaning. “I said we need to recognize that these staff members who are going into potential contamination and a disaster zone, really, and putting themselves at risk… It’s already an under-appreciated job as it is, and not one that gets a lot of respect. It was a feel-good way to get people to recognize that.” (Thomas)

We are all being called to do extraordinary things for the collective caring of our families, communities and the world in response to the unique coronavirus pandemic. Whether home bound or providing critical services, everyone is stretched to adapt like never before. All of us are in this together. Now more than ever, caring is what we need most. Caring for our self. Caring for others around us. Life is going to require new routines, resilience and compassion. We invite you to join us in creating a caring movement to respond to local needs.

There are so many ways to brighten our days and one of these is through caring acts. Often these acts help promote positive emotions and health while making the world better through helping others. We at Unified Caring Association (UCA) celebrate people and organizations that promote caring for others, communities and the world. Lipstick Angels is one of these companies that have caught our eye by bringing beautiful caring to cancer patients. With a mission to “strengthen dignity, hope, and self-esteem of individuals with cancer or other chronic illnesses,” we are happy and excited to share this caring company!

Lipstick Angels began providing various beauty services such as makeup application, facials and skin care, aromatherapy and hand massages in support of cancer patients in March of 2012. “When the program began at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Lipstick Angels offered one, three-hour session per week. Due to the program’s success, sessions are now available up to three times a week in Cedar-Sinai’s Samuel Oschin Cancer Center.” (Lipstick Angels) A little over a year later, Lipstick Angels became a 501c3 nonprofit. Then they began energetically fundraising to expand their caring program. They received their first grant from the Annenberg Foundation about a month later. This was followed by another grant from the Good News Foundation, and continue to receive grants to this day! Additionally, Lipstick Angels has support from partner companies like Credo Beauty to help them bring joy and beauty to those they care for!

In July of 2014 they began a program at Long Beach Memorial’s new Todd Cancer Institute, which is a leading cancer management facility that offers an integrative approach to medicine. The year following they added one more: the City of Hope National Medical Center. In late 2016 they broadened their reach to the East Coast to include the NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. Lipstick Angels’ program complements the hospital’s existing care programs to a “T!” This was all because NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center is one of the nation’s most integrated and comprehensive academic health care providers who are dedicated to quality and compassionate care to patients.

This company is celebrated on various media outlets like social media platforms and television. “In December 2013, Renata [the founder of Lipstick Angels] appeared on the internationally broadcast show, the Doctors, and again on the nationally aired Queen Latifah Show. Both shows brought Lipstick Angels’ national and international attention. Since then we have received requests to launch Lipstick Angels programs from patients, caregivers and hospital staff in numerous states and countries including India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom.” (Lipstick Angels)​

VALUES & PILLARS OF EXCELLENCE

Values help set standards and guide organizations. Lipstick Angels has a group of caring values that we can cheer for!

Couple these caring values with the following three pillars, and Lipstick Angels provides the caring framework and foundation for all they do!

We are so excited to hear more about Lipstick Angels’ activities as time goes on; we hope to see you grow and thrive. Thank you to all of the Lipstick Angels and all of the Angel teams for all the caring you do to help bring more caring into the world!